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LEE, Henry, (brother of Richard Bland Lee and grandfather of William Henry Fitzhugh Lee),
a Delegate and a Representative from Virginia; born at Leesylvania, in Prince
William County, Va., January 29, 1756; pursued classical studies and was graduated from Princeton
College in 1773; served in the Revolutionary War; commissioned captain of a company of Virginia
Dragoons June 18, 1776, that became attached to and part of the First Continental Dragoons March
31, 1777; lieutenant colonel November 6, 1780, and served until the close of the war; commissioned
major general, United States Army, July 19, 1798; honorably discharged June 15, 1800; became
universally known as Light Horse Harry; Member of the Continental Congress 1786-1788;
advocated the adoption of the Federal Constitution in the Virginia convention of 1788; Governor of
Virginia 1791-1794; commanded the United States forces in the Whisky Insurrection in 1794; elected
as a Federalist to the Sixth Congress (March 4, 1799-March 3, 1801); at the request of Congress
pronounced the eulogy upon President Washington before both branches of Congress, in which
Washington is characterized as the man first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his
countrymen; died on Cumberland Island, Ga., March 25, 1818; interment at Dungeness, Ga.;
reinterment in the crypt, Lee Memorial Chapel, Washington-Lee University, at Lexington, Va., May
30, 1913.
BibliographyRoyster, Charles. Light-Horse Harry Lee and
the Legacy of the American Revolution. 1981. Reprint, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
University Press, 1994.
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